A red hot start left little doubt in their dressing room.
They opened up a two-goal lead before the game was 10 minutes old and carried the play throughout much of the opening 15 minutes and in the end, the Soo Greyhounds grabbed a much-needed two points on Thursday thanks to a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Niagara IceDogs in St. Catharines.
On the heels of a disappointing overtime loss on Saturday night at home that saw them blow a 4-0 lead, Greyhounds coach John Dean called the start in Thursday’s win “an indicator that there’s still a lot of fight left in this team.”
“When you’re in ruts like this, you worry about what kind of response you’re going to get,” Dean added. “That’s a really good start.”
Veteran forward Justin Cloutier called the Greyhounds first 10 to 15 minutes of the game “unreal.”
“We came out strong and really set the tone for the rest of the game,” Cloutier added.
Forward Owen Allard, returning to the lineup for the first time this season after a shoulder injury last summer required surgery, called the game “a good team win.”
“I liked that whenever we started to play bad, we didn’t get down on ourselves and we turned it back on,” Allard also said. “We flipped a switch and we persevered.”
Though there were some parts of their game in the second period the team wants to “clean up” Dean also said that “over the past week and the last three games, we’ll take that 60 minutes (on Thursday) all day.”
For a team that let a lead slip away last weekend, Dean also talked about a goal early in the third period of Thursday’s game took on some added importance for a team trying to protect a lead.
“Especially when you’re trying to win a game and you blow a four-goal lead the game before,” Dean said. “You’re trying to protect a one-goal lead and you go out and score the first shift, the shoulders let down a little bit and everyone takes a breath and we get back at it.”
The goal, scored by Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker, came moments after a defensive play by overage defenceman Ryan Thompson at the other end helped thwart an early chance.
Dean said “from then on, we managed the puck very well.”
“To win hockey games in this league, it doesn’t matter what the score is, you have to continue to press, but you also have to manage the puck,” Dean added.
After carrying the play through much of the opening period, the Greyhounds opened the scoring on a goal by Cloutier. After a shot by Thompson was partially blocked in the slot, the puck redirected to Cloutier in the left faceoff circle where he skated in and beat IceDogs goaltender Owen Flores high short side from the bottom of the circle at 9:18.
Julian Fantino made it a 2-0 game just 25 seconds later after a Niagara turnover in the high slot. Owen Allard grabbed the turnover and hit Fantino going to the net with a pass that the latter redirected past Flores to extend the lead.
The IceDogs cut the lead in half off a faceoff win by Daniel Michaud. The veteran forward won the draw in the left circle and got the puck from Andrew LeBlanc before beating Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel high short side at 11:38.
The IceDogs tied the game in the second period off an offensive zone turnover by the Greyhounds. Niagara’s Zakary Lavoie poked the puck away from McConnell-Barker at the Niagara blueline and skated in on a 2-on-1 with defenceman Ryan Vannetten. Lavoie hit Vannette with a pass and the rookie blueliner beat Schenkel glove side at 13:16.
Caeden Carlisle gave the Greyhounds the lead back with 1:52 to go in the second period when he took a pass in the left circle from Matthew Virgilio and beat Flores 5-hole to make it a 3-2 game.
The Greyhounds made it a 4-2 game 25 seconds into the third period as McConnell-Barker went to the net and redirected a pass from Kalvyn Watson on a 2-on-1.
With Flores on the bench for an extra attacker and the IceDogs on the power play, Cloutier sealed the win with an empty net goal with 32 seconds to go.
In addition to the two-goal night for Cloutier, Allard and Thompson assisted on a pair of goals each for the Greyhounds in the win.
Schenkel made 25 saves while Flores stopped 43 shots for the IceDogs in the loss.
Playing his first game with the team since game five of the second round of last year’s playoffs against Flint, Allard said he felt good overall in his return to game action. Having practiced with the team lately prior to playing, Allard also said that practicing doesn’t quite have the same feel as a game.
“You can practice as hard as you want, but really the game situations are hard to replicate in practice,” Allard said.
The Greyhounds’ road trip continues on Friday night as the team takes on the Guelph Storm at the Sleeman Centre.
The Greyhounds will take a 17-24-9-5 record into Friday’s contest after Thursday’s win. The team now sits three points behind the Kitchener Rangers for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference. The Rangers have a pair of games in hand and are slated to return to action on Friday night against Owen Sound at home. The Greyhounds and Rangers are scheduled to meet on Sunday afternoon in Kitchener.
Niagara’s record drops to 11-36-7-1 on the season.